


Chicken

by FixOrRideDaily



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff (kinda), Pool Party, This is super innocent, minor blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 13:17:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7106395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FixOrRideDaily/pseuds/FixOrRideDaily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who doesn't like Chicken? Well, Chris.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chicken

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cute innocent little story that I wrote for the sake of writing it and am posting to keep in the habit of posting things. Ashley/Chris is my Until Dawn OTP so sometimes I just like to indulge in them a little bit. That's all.
> 
> Not beta-read. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Sometimes Chris seriously had to question his choice in Josh as a best friend.

“Hey Mikey! Look, look, there she is. There's Chris' girl.” Josh only barely kept his words at a whisper. Chris cringed at his loud boisterous laugh. He kept his attention on his phone swiping his fingers along his screen trying to tune out his friends and busy himself looking at whatever new apps were currently for sale despite the fact that their current conversation was centered around him. 

“Ooh I wanna see Chris' new piece of ass.” He heard Beth chime in excitedly from where she stood behind the bar making herself a (virgin) mixed drink. He couldn't help but get offended on her behalf at that and thought to himself that if Beth wasn't a girl herself he probably would have knocked her out for using such crude language to describe the new girl who had arrived at the party. She reached Mike just as he popped open his soda can. He nodded his head in consideration a few times before taking a sip of his own drink. Beth hummed in approval as well before joining her brother in his pool chair.

“What I tell ya? Not bad right?” Josh prompted gesturing his hands out in presentation. Chris peeked over his phone at Sam, Hannah and Ashley to make sure they hadn't noticed themselves being observed by the others yet. Hannah was chatting away excitedly at the newest arrival at a thousand miles a minute so he guessed they were still unaware. Though Sam did glance quickly over their way twice.

“Not bad at all,” Mike answered, “Solid 7.”

“Which for Chris is basically a 9,” Beth added, followed once again by Josh's stupid laugh.

“Guys, cut it out will ya?!” Chris groaned tucking away his phone in his bag when it became clear his friends would not be giving him any peace about this.

“Calm down, bro. We're just busting your balls a little,” Josh said before downing the rest of his drink.

“Besides don't you want your friends' opinions on your potential future girlfriend?” Beth teased elbowing her brother and winking causing him to spit up his drink in his laughter. Mike snickered.

“We're lab partners that's all. She's here to hang out because she's new and doesn't really know anybody at school. Hell, we barely even know each other.” Even as he said it Chris could feel his face heating up with a blush. As if Beth's and Josh's disbelieving faces weren't bad enough by themselves.

“Then why is she coming over here?” Mike asked with raised eyebrows leaning over towards him. Chris spun around in his pool chair in time to see Ashley stop at his side.

“Hi, Chris,” she said with a small wave, standing over him.

“Oh uh hey Ash,” he said.

“Hey Josh,” she said leaning passed Chris slightly.

“Hey Ash,” he responded then pointed at Beth, “This is my other sister Beth.”

“I can tell since you look exactly like Hannah,” she answered before pointing at the final person in their little group, “And you must be Mike Munroe. I've seen your campaign stuff up around school.”

“You'd be correct pretty little lady,” Mike said, “Does that mean I can count on your vote next week?”

“Considering I'm an uniformed voter who doesn't even know the other candidates names, then sure,” she agreed with a slight giggle. Chris hated how smooth Mike was when it came to talking to girls or boys or anyone really. Not because he liked Ashley, but because it was sleazy and annoying.

“So, I'm getting in the pool,” Josh announced suddenly, “Mike, wanna run drinks to Jess and Emily before they dry out over there?” He handed a water bottle for each of them to Mike before he answered sending him off to where the two girls were sunbathing. Then Josh grabbed his sister by the hand and yanked her off towards the water. Beth screamed in surprise and irritation dropping her plastic cup with a clatter as he dragged her into the pool against her will. Hannah and Sam laughed as the two fell haphazardly into the water creating a huge splash and then jumped in after them. Ashley laughed too.

Chris didn't laugh though. He knew what Josh was doing. Or at least what Josh thought he was doing. Josh thought he was “hooking Chris up” by leaving him alone to talk to Ashley. He knew that because inviting her, this girl none of them really knew yet, to this small pool party of close friends only had been his idea in the first place. Because she had shown up at a much bigger party a few weeks ago and after hanging out with Josh and Chris for awhile the former was convinced the latter had it bad for Ashley, which he didn't. He thought she was smart and cool, but he certainly didn't like her, not like that.

He wasn't really sure what he should say to her either. She was smiling down at him with a mouth full of braces. He was at eye level with her bare stomach which was covered in light brown almost red freckles. In fact she had freckles pretty much everywhere dotting her legs and arms which was funny since she had almost none on her face.

“I have lots of freckles too,” Chris said suddenly, “There pretty much all on my back though.”

“What?” Ashley seemed confused and her nose twitched cutely. That would make sense as there was literally no logic to what he had admitted to her. Except that he had been checking her ou- he had been looking at her and noticed she had a lot of freckles, which he did too.

“You have a lot of freckles,” he tried to clarify pointing at her.

“Oh yeah,” she said checking herself, “I guess I do.”

“I have a lot of freckles too. See?” he said standing up and pulling off his t-shirt to show her the much darker freckles he had decorating his shoulders, and back. He knocked his glasses askew and he dropped his shirt down on his chair to straighten them. He did a quick awkward turn in order to show her the proof that he was not lying about having freckles. When he was facing her again he felt weird about having taken his shirt off in front of her like that.

“So you do,” she said with a wistful little lilt. After a second she held up her pointer finger and poked him hard in the shoulder. He looked down at her hand to see she was tracing a pattern there. Her finger moved from one dot on his skin to another for a bit before pulling her hand away and then she laughed.

“You almost have a perfect star on your shoulder,” she told him, “It's a little uneven though.”

“I do not,” he exclaimed trying to look down at his own shoulder at what she meant.

“Yeah, you do. It's cool I have a heart on my arm,” she said showing him her arm and mapping it out with her finger. He didn't see it. They were just randomly placed dots on her arm.

“Okay neat, I guess,” he said with a shrug.

“You don't believe me,” she said tilting her head to the side a little and he felt bad and embarrassed until she added, “That's okay. You don't have to. I know what I see.”

“Alright fine then,” he conceded looking back at her arm and this time he did kind of see a heart there, “Maybe you do have a heart and maybe I do have a star.”

“Stars are my favorite shape,” she told him. It felt stupid but that made him feel warm and special for some reason. Because he had a star on his shoulder probably.

Sam came running up to them then and threw her arms around Ashley. The red-head screeched in terror and the blonde girl laughed. Hannah appeared a few seconds later and shook out her long wet hair. They were both soaking wet and laughing.

“Come in the water, Ash,” Sam said grabbing one of her hands.

“Yeah,” Hannah agreed grabbing her other hand, “If you stick with Chris you'll never get wet. He hates the pool.”

“I don't hate the pool,” Chris said to Hannah who stuck her tongue at him. He didn't have any sisters of his own but Hannah and Beth more than made up for that.

“Then you come get in the water with us too,” Sam added as she and Hannah dragged Ashley towards the stairs. Chris didn't like swimming. He really didn't like the water and the chlorine did funny things to his hair sometimes. He was usually more of an observer at these things.

“Sounds fun to me,” Ashley said letting the girls pull her into the Washingtons' pool. She and Hannah dived under together and swam away from where he was. Sam waved back before running to the other side to jump in and meet them. When they came back up the three girls were all splashing each other and giggling. For once it actually looked pretty inviting. 

He took off his glasses and followed the path that Sam had taken. Beth and Josh were there too dunking each other under the water and climbing on top of one another. He looked over in time to see Matt canon ball in off the diving board and enough water splashed up towards him to get him a little wet while everybody cheered. He looked over and thought about going to talk with Jess, Emily and Mike.

“Chris, you coming in?” he heard Ashley call. He was jumping in after that thinking he understood mermaid legends better than he ever did before. Josh cheered and slung his arm around him when he came up above the nasty tasting pool water.

“Whoa mark this day down everyone Chris got in the pool,” Josh yelled before he dunked Chris under again and Chris kicked him to get away which knocked Josh over into the water as well. When they both resurfaced Josh was smirking like he had a great idea. This got Chris worried. Josh having an idea only ever went one of two ways very very good or very very bad.

“Bawk bawk bawk bawk,” Josh cried out loud enough for everybody to hear him, “Who's up for a good old fashioned round of chicken? Sam, Beth, Hannah, I know you're all in.”

The three girls cheered back in agreement. This was interrupted by Josh diving under the water and coming up between Sam's legs. He hoisted her up onto his shoulders in order to claim her as his partner right off the bat before anyone else could. Rather than be annoyed with him for it she just laughed and hit him on the head playfully.

“Yeah,” Mike shouted from behind them before Chris saw him turn to Jess and Emily, “Which one of you lovely ladies wants to be my partner then?”

Emily rolled her eyes, “I'll pass thanks.”

Jess looked like she really wanted to say 'yes,' but after a quick few glances at her best friend decided better of it and then she shrugged, “I think I'm out too. Sorry.”

“Oh come on,” Mike said, “Booo.”

“Don't sweat it, Mike,” Josh called to him happily, “That means that you and Matt get your pick of the beautiful Washington girls after all.”

Both Emily and Jess looked even less happy about that.

“True is true my friend,” Mike called back hopping into the water and swimming right over to Hannah. He held his hand out to her with a little bow, “If you would my lady.”

Hannah looked like she might actually faint as she nodded enthusiastically and she took Mike's hand in her own. She let him help her onto his shoulders as Matt and Beth gravitated towards each other because they were the only two people left who were playing. The teams weren't even though. They needed another set on two to make it fair. Josh absolutely knew that too because the next words out of his mouth were.

“Yo red, you want in on this?”

“I don't have a partner,” Ashley answered, “Otherwise I totally would.”

“Cochise will do it,” Josh said indicating Chris, Sam nodding along on his shoulders, “Won't you, bro?”

Then Ashley asked maybe the worst thing she could have in that moment, “Can Chris even lift me?”

“I can lift you!” he protested. That was ridiculous! She weighed like ninety pounds at the most.

“Okay,” she said with a shrug and made her way over to him, “So let's play.”

Oh, fuck.

“Uh sure,” he said kneeling down and helping Ashley, who like every other girl there was wearing a bikini bathing suit, climb up and onto his shoulders. She was heavier than he actually thought she would be and he was made more than a little uncomfortable by his head being between her bare thighs.

“Alright,” Beth called once she was settled on Matt's shoulders, “The rules are simple. People on top against people on top, people below versus people below. If you knock the person on top off your team wins, and if you knock the person below over and they both go down your team also wins. Extra rules. No hitting anyone in the family jewels, Josh. No removing of anyone's bathing suit, Josh. Keep your hands in appropriate places at all times, Josh.”

“Why are all of these directed at me?” Josh whined.

“Because we all know you,” Sam said slapping Josh's hand as it traveled away from one of the appropriate places Beth mentioned.

“Okay,” Hannah chimed up, “3...2...1...Chicken!”

Beth and Matt made a beeline straight for Hannah and Mike. The twins locked hands and were soon grappling for dominance. With the water splashing around them and their hair wet it was hard to tell the two girls apart. Mike and Matt each charged at the other and by the water sloshing around them were clearly kicking their feet at each others' legs. The two pairs circled around each other pushing and shoving and trying to knock the other over. Both guys grunting while both girls laughed.

This meant Josh and Sam were heading for Ashley and Chris. Forever in favor of the flight option in risky scenarios Chris was struggling to back them further away from the duo rather then rush towards them. Chris had no skill in the water though and Josh with Sam riding his shoulders were on him and his own partner in no time. Ashley shrieked as she flung out her hands and Sam grabbed them and began pushing her. Ashley responded by pushing back with all her might. Their bodies were pressed together and they grabbed shoulders trying to wrestle the other off their respective guy's shoulders with all their strength.

Josh kicked a little at Chris' feet which Chris dodged and tried to moved away from, but it was hard with Ashley clinging to Sam and him being attached to Ashley. Chris was not coordinated or strong enough for this and he felt himself losing his footing more than once. Josh paused in his assault to look up at the wet girls above them with their torsos pushed together and smiled widely. He winked at Chris when he looked back down. Chris was thinking to himself, 'Does he really think this is hot right now?' when he felt Ashley sliding back off of his shoulders.

Chris backed up to steady her and make sure she didn't fall stepping backwards as he did. Josh took this chance to slip his foot behind Chris' ankle and kick it out hard. Both his feet went out from under him and Chris went down and Ashley went down with him. Chris' first thought when he hit the water was if Ashley was okay. He spun around quickly to where she would have fallen down and swam that way a little. He felt a blinding sharp pain smack him in the face and he was knocked back. His nose and lip hurt and he got flipped around. His lungs hurt and so did his throat because he had swallowed water and he pushed in the direction he thought was up when he felt the pool floor.

When Chris' head thankfully broke the surface of the water he breathed in deeply and blinked his eyes a few times to clear them. His face really hurt and he put his hand to it. He looked over to see Hannah and Mike and Sam and Josh still playing the game of Chicken while Ashley was standing next to Matt and Beth looking panicked and worried all around the water.

“Matt,” Ashley was saying “I kicked something. I know I did. I felt it.”

“Calm down Ash, I'm sure it was nothing,” Matt said putting his hand on her shoulder. Beth finally noticed Chris and her face fell when she did.

“Chris!” she yelled pointing to him, “You're bleeding!”

“What?” Chris asked before looking at his hand which was indeed covered in red.

“Oh my gosh,” Ashley cried out, “I must have kicked you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Chris said even as he felt more blood drip down his wet face. Beth and Ashley rushed over to him and both of them were pulling him towards the stairs and out of the pool water. All of the commotion had gotten the attention of the others because they stopped playing their game. Chris was dragged back over to his pool chair by Beth and Ashley with Matt coming up behind them. Beth made him sit down while Ashley grabbed a towel for him and held it up to his bleeding face. He moved to take it from her, but Beth wouldn't let him. She smacked his hands away and forced him to look at her.

“Chris, what is my name?” she asked slowly. Chris noticed the others were starting to gather around.

“Beth!” he moaned. Either she really thought he might have a concussion or she thought she was being funny by messing with him. He didn't care for either option.

“Good,” she said then held up a peace sign, “Now how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Seven,” he answered after squinting his eyes at her hand for a second, Ashley snorted out a laugh, “Beth, I was kicked in the face, I don't have a concussion!” Beth backed away from him with her arms crossed.

“Sorry for showing concern,” she said, but she was smirking when she turned and walked away.

“I didn't mean to send you down so hard there, bro,” Josh apologized looking around awkwardly.

“It's fine,” Chris said. He'd really rather everybody wasn't gathered around him.

“Do you need anything?” Sam asked. “Like some ice or something.”

“I got it, Sam,” Ashley piped up before he even said anything, “Why don't you all go on back to having fun? It's just a small cut. It's no big deal or anything.”

“Is that cool with you Chris?” Hannah checked.

Chris nodded, “Yeah, it's cool. Really.”

Much to his relief they all slowly started walking away. Josh gave him a thumbs up when he left though with a raised eyebrow towards Ashley and that was more than a little annoying. So he was alone with her now? So what? There was nothing romantic about him bleeding. Oh yeah, she'd definitely want to kiss him and get the wonderful taste of copper in her mouth. Not that he wanted to kiss Ashley. But if he did hypothetically.

“Thanks,” he said taking the towel from her and pressing it to his own face.

“No problem,” she said sitting next to him on his pool chair, “I don't like when people make a big fuss over me when I'm hurt either.”

“Sorry I kicked you in the face,” she added.

“It's okay,” he said because he wasn't mad at her at all for it. Accidents happen.

“You don't totally hate me now do you?” she asked looking nervous.

“No, why?” he asked. He meant why would I hate you, but that's not what she answered.

“Because you're like the only real friend I have at school and it would suck if you hated me,” she said, “I like talking to you and hanging out with you.”

“Really?” he asked. That was probably a pathetic question to ask.

“Yeah, you're funny,” she giggled and then covered her mouth like she said more than she meant to which was the cutest thing Chris had ever seen anybody do. He thought about kissing her again.

“I like hanging out with you too,” he said instead.

“Then we should do it more,” she responded. He looked at her quizzically.

“Do what more?” he asked and she laughed.

“Hang out together,” she answered looking him right in his unfocused eyes before adding, “Want me to grab your glasses for you?”

He nodded slowly and she reached back to grab his glasses for him out of his bag. She handed them to him and took back the towel as he put them on. She was back to dabbing his face, and he noticed with their faces this close to each other that she actually did have three small freckles dotting the side of her nose right by her left eye.

“We should hang out together more,” Chris agreed. Ashley smiled a full toothy grin. Okay maybe he thought she was a little cute. And maybe he liked her a little bit. 

And maybe Chris had made the best choice ever when picking Josh for a best friend.


End file.
